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CU Law makes first-ever curriculum change for first-year students

Starting this fall, incoming students will take "Legislation and Regulation"

By Brittany Anas Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
07/12/2010 07:15:57 PM MDT

Updated:
07/12/2010 10:13:44 PM MDT

In this March file photo, first-year University of Colorado law student Monica Hughes studies at the Wolf Law Building. (Camera file photo)

The University of Colorado's law school is adding a course for its first-year students -- a colossal change to the curriculum that has been set in stone since the school was established in 1892.

Beginning in the fall, first-year CU law students will take "Legislation and Regulation" to prepare them for a legal profession that is increasingly bound by federal regulations and state statutes. The course will examine the way Congress and administrative agencies adopt rules of law and how courts interpret them.

"Across the 200 or so law schools in the country, most have taught the same first-year core curriculum year in and year out," said Dayna Matthew, associate dean of academic affairs. "A few of us have decided to be innovative in order to better prepare our students for the reality of practicing law in the 21st century."

The other fundamental shift in curriculum will encourage first-year students to take an elective during their second semester.

Also, under a pilot program, CU will involve 25 law students in the "Telos Project" to explore the ethics of law. The students will not receive credit, but will have extensive reading assignments and will explore the self-transformation that occurs during law school, according to the university.

No classes were deleted from the first-year curriculum to accommodate the additions, but "Civil Procedure" and "Property" are now only one semester each.

About five years ago, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching released a report that said law schools needed to rethink curriculum and go beyond teaching legal analyses.

Faculty members in CU's law school have recognized that practicing law has changed radically since the early adoption of the "Langdellian" method of teaching, which focuses on reviewing cases, Matthew said.

"The rise of the administrative state has made introducing students to statutes and regulations essential," she said.

Leading the way for curriculum shifts are schools including Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown and New York University, Matthew said. In 2006, under Dean Elena Kagan, now a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Harvard introduced a class on the regulatory state in the first-year curriculum, and changed course offerings to give more attention to statutes and regulations.

CU's law faculty has been reviewing the school's curriculum, and plans to introduce more curriculum changes in the future, including a "capstone experience" for third-year students. For example, after intensely studying family and employment law, third-year students could travel to India to compare the legal system and employment laws with those in the United States.

Recent CU law graduates Veronique Van Gheen and Alan Obye, who were studying for the bar exam in the Wolf Law building Monday evening, said the forthcoming changes have potential.

Van Gheen said understanding the interaction between government regulations and the courts will benefit students, especially those who don't have political science backgrounds.

Now, a smattering of regulatory law is taught in various first-year courses, she said.

"I would encourage giving students a broader view of how American law works," Obye said.

CU professor Harold Bruff will teach the new course in the fall semester. He is a recognized expert in administrative and constitutional law and has authored two textbooks on administrative law and the separation of powers.

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